The Path of Adversity and Shadows
by Sabaku Ookami
Summary: Everyone dead or close to it, Naruto uses a jutsu he created after the allied shinobi villages lose the war against Madara. When he uses it, it sends him to a different dimension but he ends up arriving unconscious and awakes to find himself in the village of Nadeshiko. (Poor summary, I'll fix it when something better comes to mind)
1. Chapter 1

The Title and the Summary will be changed at a later date when something better comes to mind.

A/N: Yes, yes and yes, it's another story. Don't worry, a few of the others are about half-way to being done, but since I was busy moving, unpacking and resting so I didn't do a lot of work on well pretty much anything.

Before I continue with the rest of the A/N. I would like to state that my other story's are being worked on and I'll have them out sooner or later. Some of them I'm working on and can't break through a problem or my co-author is working on them and real life is interfering as well as his own work.

So I ask that instead of putting a review saying that I shouldn't be making a new story, just be patient. Yes, it's a new story, but I will update the rest when the chapter's for them are finished. If anyone is willing to help me finish them quicker, you're welcome to volunteer. Just send me a pm and we'll work everything out privately.

Beta: ncpfan

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Now before reading, I will state some changes that will make certain situations less confusing.

First and foremost; the pairing. It will be Naruto with: Shizuka, Karin, 2 OC's (from the Nadeshiko village), Ino and maybe others. They'll be picked later on when we're further into the story. (Because I have no idea who else to add at the moment)

This is a story where Naruto pops into a different dimension because shit went south in his own. Naruto will recognize other people, but he isn't going to be all gushy like "Oh my god, they're alive! Huggies!"

Feel free to laugh at that example, I did, but you hopefully get the point. He's in an entirely different dimension where no one knows him and he doesn't know them. He'll understand that much.

And there will be different changes within the new 'dimension'. Some obvious, others... not so much.

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Naruto opened his eyes slowly, he was in a room, not an infirmary tent if the ceiling was any indication given that it was wood and not cloth. _'Most buildings no longer exist, so I imagine _that_ jutsu was used and they're dead. Then I may have succeeded,'_ he thought closing his eyes to think further on his situation. _'So this is a different dimension then I will need to observe everything and if everything follows the same route, I have the ability to finish it before it even starts by hunting down the sons of bitches trying anything. I can also alter things to my advantage,'_ he continued mentally before he heard footsteps and opened his eyes to see a fair-skinned girl of average height. She had green eyes and waist-length black hair in a hime-style cut tied in a high ponytail with short bangs and chin-length strands framing her face. She wore a black forehead protector and a form-fitting kunoichi uniform; it was grey with a right shoulder-guard, grey gloves, and opening in her shirt which revealed some of her ample cleavage.

"Hi," he said calmly staring at her eyes and if he went by her body language, she took notice of where he kept his eyes and it hopefully would make discussion easier.

"Didn't think you would wake up," she replied before taking a seat in a chair next to where he was laying, "You've been out for almost a week. How are you feeling?"

"Bored," muttered Naruto calmly, compared to the last year of his life when he was on battlefields all the time. He wondered what he'd do in the spare time he'd have now apart from preventing the fourth shinobi war again.

The girl giggled and said, "That's a first. I never thought someone in your position would say they were bored. You're clothes and... armor were pretty much destroyed. I was able to get some new clothes for you. I hope you don't mind that I stripped you down to your underwear."

"Not really," he deadpanned not finding any particularly problem with it. If he was younger he knew he'd be freaking out about it, but he understood his position. He could have died or gotten very sick if his gear wasn't removed. "Though I have to ask, why am I not in a hospital?"

"You weren't injured, just unconscious. In my experience, that doesn't require a hospital. They'd only make your life miserable when you woke up anyway," she answered seriously then added, "Besides, men aren't exactly... _welcome_ in Nadeshiko very much. We're a Kunoichi village. I'm Shizuka, the leader. What's your name?" she asked curiously wanting to know for various reasons.

"Uzumaki Naruto," he answered as he sat up and yawned.

"That... looks like a painful scar," said Shizuka staring at the scar on his chest and wincing slightly at the sight of it.

Naruto looked down at his chest and frowned, "I suppose. I didn't really feel the pain when it happened or afterward, being unconscious and all. It just brings up bad memories now. Can I get dressed, Shizuka-san?" he asked politely, years of battle sort of forced him to learn manners and quite a bit of patience.

"Sure," she answer as she stood up and headed for the door, "I'll be making lunch downstairs, so if you want any, you have to come down."

Naruto half-smiled at her words and nodded as she left, "She's friendlier in this dimension," he muttered under his breath. _'Though there can be a reason for that beyond simply being in a different dimension... oi, I'm going to being that word a lot, aren't I?'_ he thought slightly irritated at himself. He made a mental note to _not_ start thinking like that. Nothing good was going to happen if he constantly compared his dimension to this one.

Naruto got out of the bed and started to get dressed in the clothes she set to the side for him. He had to admit she had very good taste in clothing... far better than he ever had. _'At least I ended up here instead of say... Iwagakure or Otogakure. I'd have probably been killed before I woke up.'_ he thought grimacing at the thought of possibly popping up in those places. Needless to say, they weren't good thoughts. _'And this is a village of kunoichi which by a unknown set rule, are cute if not beautiful.'_ he added mentally as he stepped out of the room, _'Though to be fair, I have seen a few women that don't come close to cute or beautiful,'_ thought Naruto absentmindedly, _'But that's outward appearance and that only gets someone so far.'_ he added as he walked down the stairs into the living room. He never saw Shizuka's house in his dimension before and if these two were alike, it was... normal surprisingly enough. He was a bit cautious that she wasn't treating him like a spy or an enemy of sorts, then again most spies don't end up unconscious wearing damaged clothing from a battle... if they did Naruto could easily assume they would probably end up dead pretty quickly.

"If you don't mind me asking... you're being really kind to me even though I'm not from your village," said Naruto as he walked into the dining room seeing Shizuka setting the table.

Shizuka finished setting the table then looked up at him, "If you were a spy, you'd have made a much more quieter way into the village and you'd be a woman. Laying on the beach, half dead and wearing rags and destroyed armor is a pretty stupid way to infiltrate a village."

"And you don't believe a spy would do something extreme to worm his or her way into a foreign village?" questioned Naruto curiously, it was a brilliant idea to him, if a little dumb.

Shizuka chuckled and said, "Like I said, the only way you could infiltrate Nadeshiko is if you were a woman and even then it would be hard for you to do it. Our village is getting smaller every year. We go out and find strong men that are capable of beating us to be our husbands... frankly, men are getting weaker so that means less husbands and less children."

"I see," said Naruto shrugging as he sat down in one of the chairs, he could say something about her village's tradition, but he didn't want to up end in an argument or anything with her... at least, not yet at any rate. He wasn't as naïve or... stupid as he was years ago in his dimension. "Would you like help?" he asked, his cooking wasn't horrible and having her do all the work didn't seem fair.

"No, it's fine," said Shizuka quickly, "You just woke up from a minor coma and I'm the host. So you just rest and don't worry. Though if I do need help, I'll let you know." She winked at him before walking into the kitchen.

_'This is going to lead to a fight...'_ thought Naruto thinking of Nadeshiko's laws. It wasn't a bad thing considering _who_ it was but going straight from stranger to husband was quick, even for him. Naruto shrugged, he could simply lose the fight on purpose as well since it required him to win.

Naruto closed his eyes in thought as he decided to plan things out in his head of what to do for the future. He could probably use Nadeshiko are his base area, granted he had to get permission from Shizuka to do it. He also needed to hunt down, find and kill Akatsuki members, deal with Sasuke depending on how the little bastard was acting in this dimension and if push came to shove he'd have to kill himself in this dimension since the seal with the Kyubi would kill it and ruin Madara's plan and many more things he didn't feel like adding to his list at the moment.

"Here you are," said Shizuka bringing him out of his thoughts, he opened his eyes and found she brought food out already and wondered just how long he spent thinking on things. He didn't think it was that long. "Is something wrong?" she asked wondering if she did something wrong with the food, she made it like normal so she didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

"Oh no," answered Naruto truthfully returning his attention to the outside world, "I was just thinking of things. The food looks wonderful Shizuka-san."

"Ah that's good," said Shizuka happily before they started eating.

XxxxxX

They finished eating after awhile and Naruto stood up and started cleaning the table, "I can do that," said Shizuka not expecting him to clean the table after they ate.

"No," he said as he collecting the plates and bowls, "You cooked so the I clean. It's the least I can do for you, Shizuka-san. You just sit there and rest." He smirked as he just used her own words against her, "If I need help I'll let you know." He finished collecting the plates and bowls and walked into the kitchen with a smirk on his face feeling a pair of eyes burn into the back of his head.

Naruto placed the stuff in the sink and stuck his head out of the doorway, "I need help with the dishes, could you help?" he asked politely, the easiest way to clean them in his mind was that one person cleaned them and the other person dried them.

"Sure," answered Shizuka standing up and walking into the kitchen only to get a towel thrown in her face, "Hey," she growled before removing the towel and glaring at him.

"Be nice," said Naruto sticking his tongue out at her, "You dry and I clean, it's faster." he added happily, "Besides if I let you clean, your cute hands will wrinkle." he watched in satisfaction as she turned bright red and then he started washing the dishes then handing them to her so she could dry them.

The two of them spent cleaning for ten minutes until the sink and that half of the kitchen disappeared via a huge mechanical hand destroying them. "I've heard of taking everything including the kitchen sink, but this is a bit much," said Naruto before grabbing Shizuka and using shunshin to get on top of her roof before their attackers could do anything more. Unknowingly to Shizuka, he also took two kunai and three shuriken out of her weapons pouch. "You know him?" asked Naruto seeing the large machine thing that some guy was in, he remembered the same situation before but couldn't remember the man's name.

"He keeps trying to beat me and make me marry him," said Shizuka highly irritated at seeing this bastard again. She kicked his ass dozens of times before but the asshole kept coming back.

"Then kill him," stated Naruto causing her to look at him surprised, "What? This isn't a fairy tale where everyone gets to live. He fucks with you, you kill him and it ends the entire thing... unless you _like_ that he wants to marry you." He was slapped a moment later, not hard but not softly either, "I take that back," he added knowing what he was slapped for, "I'll deal with him for you, Shizuka-san."

"Would you drop the honorific," said Shizuka starting to find it annoying, "You can either just not use it or you can add the -chan honorific."

"Aw, you like me," replied Naruto only to receive another slap, "The more you hit me the more you like me," he added cheekily and using shunshin to both avoid being slapped again and to deal with their unwanted guest.

XxxxxX

Naruto stood on the back of the machine looking at its... pilot, he guessed would be the correct term for the moment. It was a bit surprising that he wasn't noticed, but then again this guy was solely intent on Shizuka and unlike years before he wasn't stupid enough to declare where exactly he was at. _'This is kind of pathetic considering what I've been fighting until I arrived here... I feel sad,'_ he thought sighing and kicked the man in the back of the head causing him to go head first into the buttons and levers in front of him, knocking him unconscious, _'...Yes, I feel really sad now,'_ he said mentally knowing his skills were going to waste right now, he didn't even know the equipment he borrowed from Shizuka. "I guess it was too much to ask for when I thought of a fight," he said unhappily before picking up the man from the back of his shirt, he looked around and spotted Shizuka... and several Nadeshiko kunoichi. _'Yay... trouble,'_ he thought grimacing before he shunshined and appeared next to them with his... unconscious guest. "He didn't put up much of a fight, so killing him wasn't really required. How about we see if he can swim?" he questioned wondering if his form of punishment would go over with Shizuka or not.

"Who are you?!" demanded one of the kunoichi as they prepared to attack him.

"The person who did your job, dealing with your intruder instead of babying your leader as if she couldn't take care of herself. Honestly, this idiot isn't even much of a threat, he's like a wet paper bag," said Naruto before letting go of the man, letting him fall on the roof in a crumpled pile. He looked at Shizuka and stated, "At least we don't have to clean anymore."

"Cute," said Shizuka smiling at his last remark, "Leave him alone, he's my guest. Get rid of the idiot that's been destroying our village and being a nuisance."

"But Shizuka-sama, he's a-"

Before the kunoichi could continue Shizuka cut her off with a glare and killing intent focused solely on the woman, "He is _my_ guest," stated Shizuka seriously as she stared into the kunoichi's eyes, "He dealt with... my problem and you want me to arrest or throw him out of our village. Do what I just ordered you to do and keep your mouth shut with your opinions. Got it?"

"Y-yes ma'am," stammered the woman seemingly scared shitless of Shizuka and Naruto found it quite interesting to see. So she did have fire in her, this brought a lot of interesting ideas to mind and ways to tease her.

Shizuka sighed as the others did what she ordered and muttered, "This is going to be a pain. At least Tokiwa is out of the village for the moment or..." she trailed off not wanting to say it out loud, she looked at Naruto, "Thank you, Naruto even though you didn't need to," she said kindly, "And sorry about them. Like I said before, men aren't welcome in Nadeshiko unless they're someone's husband."

Naruto shrugged and he pulled out the kunai and shuriken he took from her, "These are yours, I figured I might need to use them, but I didn't so you can have them back. Sorry about taking them too and don't worry, I've been treated far worse than how they were to me."

Shizuka gave him a dirty look before taking her kunai and shuriken back, it was one that meant to not do it again without asking, "Well I guess since you've been seen. How about I show you around Nadeshiko? We both also need to find a place to stay for a couple nights since that stupid idiot destroyed a good portion of my house."

"Sounds awfully close to a date," said Naruto smirking as he looked at her, she blushed a little, "But I wouldn't mind seeing the village. Its more pleasing to look at than my home village just from here."

Shizuka giggled and replied, "Well we're all women so a better looking village is going to be apart of it, Naruto. Now let's go show you the village before I end up getting pulled into work and dealing with problems."

_'I've become something to get her out of work,'_ thought Naruto chuckling as he followed behind her, though he could understand it some. Him being in the village and no one's husband would demand answers from her to others in the village.

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They spent a couple hours walking around the village with her showing him around. Compared to Konoha, this place was better in a lot of ways. Aside from the few kunoichi shadowing them, the entire village was a nice place. Most of the people he met were pretty nice, though whether or not it was because of Shizuka was with him he'd have to find out later. He personally liked the garden and park with the sakura trees and the flowers. In terms of appearance Nadeshiko really beat Konoha, there wasn't even much of a comparison since Konoha was more of a large city with no special sights beyond being on top of the Hokage's monument and after a handful of times, it really wasn't special.

"So what do you intend to do now that you're awake and kicking?" asked Shizuka curiously, turning to face him.

Naruto mulled it over in his head wondering if it right now was the best time to explain his plans, but he shrugged, if she wanted to know now, why wait. "I have a lot of things to do. Most of them out of Nadeshiko, but I'd like to ask if I could use your village as my base of operations. I need somewhere to rest and gather my thoughts."

Shizuka had a serious expression from the moment he mentioned using Nadeshiko as a base, "I could allow it, but you'll have to explain in detail what your plans are and everything. I can't simply let you have free passage in and out of the village without knowing what you're doing. The others wouldn't like it and while I can see you're a nice person, I simply can't let the village's safety be left to chance."

Naruto nodded, he was glad she seemed to have leader mindset which was admirable to him, "Of course. They'll be a far-fetched to you, but I'll explain what my plans are. Provided your kunoichi are finished following us and we can speak privately."

"Oh, you noticed them as well," said Shizuka before looking at the kunoichi and glaring intensely at them. A second later and Naruto no longer felt their chakra, "That gets rid of them. Sorry about them, since Tokiwa is on a mission right now and is usually my bodyguard of sorts, the others are being overprotective."

"Doesn't that bother you?" asked Naruto curiously, if anything he'd hate it if his subordinates fretted over him like he couldn't defend himself.

"What do you mean?" questioned Shizuka a little confused, she didn't see much of a problem with the others being over-protective of her, even Tokiwa was to some extent.

Naruto sighed and replied, "I mean, they're being overprotective because they think you're weak and can't protect yourself. It also shows that they don't follow your orders. You first told them to leave us and deal with the idiot I grabbed out of the big metal piece of crap. I'm pretty sure they dumped that idiot in an alley then started watching us like hawks. If anything that idiot will be coming back to give us another headache soon." He shrugged, "I'm honored they think I'm that much of a threat, but if they don't respect your orders, what's to keep them from obeying if you're leading them in battle."

Shizuka nodded, she could see his point easily enough. When he put it that way the entire village was at stake, especially if they got attacked by an outside force. Whatever order she might give them, they could just decide that her plan wouldn't do anything and do their own thing. "I see... I'll have to fix that," she said quietly, "I don't think I would have noticed it if you didn't tell me."

"Don't worry too much about it," replied Naruto not wanting her over think it, "The Hokage has several bodyguards as do most kage. The only difference from here and there is that when their leader tells them to leave or do something. They do it without question. They don't half-ass the order given to them and spy on their leader. I know it isn't my place to say this, but you'll have to enforce that."

Shizuka elbowed him in the side causing him to cringe, "You're right it isn't your place... but having someone on the outside who sees things differently to point them out and isn't trying to harm Nadeshiko in any way is very helpful. I'll see about fixing the things you pointed out, Naruto." There was a pause before she continued, "Though how do you know how the bodyguards of the five major hidden villages act?"

Naruto chuckled and answered, "Because I've met all of them." Which was the truth in a weird way, he wasn't sure if they were all the same here as they were in his world, but who knows. He'd find out sooner or later.

"So you met the famous Yondaime Hokage and his wife?" questioned Shizuka curiously to the blond, she never thought she'd meet someone who met all the kage's.

Naruto frowned, the most apparent difference was that his parents were alive here... or he supposed calling them his parents would be a bad idea since here, they weren't. "Sort of. The last Hokage I met was Sarutobi Hiruzen. Haven't been to Konoha since then to meet the new Hokage," he stated truthfully for the most part. "Now before we go further on that discussion. Would you like to me explain my plans to see if you'll allow me to set up a base here, Shizuka-chan?"

"Sure," replied Shizuka smiling a little, "But first, let's go my office. Unlike my house, it's in one piece still and has a bedroom... and you're taking the couch."

"That's fine," said Naruto as he followed behind her as they walked to her office.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

"So you want to hunt down S-class nukenin that are in a very not-so well known group and you want to use Nadeshiko as a base," said Shizuka repeating the gist of what he told her, "What's to stop them from destroying Nadeshiko once you piss them off?"

Naruto tilted his head and replied, "Well I could always teach your kunoichi... and ninja, if you still allow the men you bring here to be ninja knew jutsu, training methods and such things. It should make them stronger and even if any of them come near Nadeshiko, you'll all be well trained to deal with them." He shrugged a second later and added, "But it won't come to that. I know what their... _spy_ is like and where to find and kill him... it... whatever it is. Once I kill him, they're pretty much blind. They rely heavily on this one person. Once he's dead, Nadeshiko's chances of being in danger drop dramatically, but I'll still show you and the others the jutsu and stuff as a show of good faith."

"And are others going to be joining you? Taking out S-class ninja isn't something a person can do by themselves," stated Shizuka seriously, she wasn't keen on allowing people she didn't know into her village, even if it was to help Naruto with whatever.

Naruto shook his head, "Nope," he said calmly, "I'll be by myself unless any of your kunoichi or ninja want to help me. I know how each of them fights and it shouldn't be too hard to deal with them without help and if worse comes to worse, I have a back-up plan... Oh right, if you don't mind me asking for a favor... is there a way I could get this made somewhere?" he asked handing Shizuka a small piece of paper he had been working on throughout the day.

Shizuka looked at it then at him and raised an eyebrow out of curiosity, "I suppose so... it's a bit more bulky than what's usually made for ninja but it can be made. How do you intend to pay for it?" she asked smirking at him.

"Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it for you," stated Naruto not seeing any other way out of this unscathed.

"Great," said Shizuka happily, "I'll have it made for you and then you'll do a few missions for Nadeshiko to pay for it and ensure I know you can back up your words with skill and if you aren't all talk, I'll let you work out of Nadeshiko." She turned the piece of paper around to him and asked, "But what's this design you want made? It doesn't look like any hidden village's symbol. Honestly, if you take away the spirals, it looks a lot like our symbol."

The design she was talking about was the one he had drawn to placed on the right shoulder and headband of what he wanted made. It was a chamomile flower with his clan's spiral in the middle of the flower and in each petal.

"It isn't. A friend of mine told me that the chamomile stands for 'energy in adversity'. The spirals are my clan's symbol," said Naruto remembering when Ino explained the different flowers to him when he visited her family's shop before the war, while he never showed it he did like learning things.

Shizuka looked back at the design and nodded, "I see, your friend must know a lot about flowers and that's nice that your honoring your clan and adding your friend's knowledge into this." she said before sitting the paper on her desk and stretching.

"It's kind of... in memory for both my clan and my friend," replied Naruto quietly, "She... ended up dying in a battle after she taught me about flowers. It's dumb I know, but she was the only one who taught me anything and didn't half-ass it even if it was about flowers."

Shizuka giggled and said, "No, that's sweet and it shows that you respected her enough as a sensei that you want to remember her." _'I do a bit of the same,'_ she continued mentally, "Well I suppose that ends everything business wise, Naruto. Since my house is missing the kitchen and such, if you go anywhere, you should just head back here. You can sleep on the couch over there. I have some other stuff to do in the village so I'll see you later," she said before vanishing is a swirl of cherry blossoms.

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A/N: Alright this is the end... of the chapter. I have no co-author on this one... for now, so I can probably update this one pretty often if games, movies and life don't stop me.

Naruto's drawing/design that he showed Shizuka is the clothing/armor that the Library Task Force uses in Library Wars just without the helmet. (Use google)

Now to the semi-important crap...

Questions from 'guests' will not be answered. They will be shot. Surviving guests will be shot again.

Questions via pm's or signed in reviews will be answered... to the best of my ability to answer them.

Pairing suggestions are allowed but only if the following form is used.

Girl you want added to that harem:

Your reason you want this female added:

And please ensure your reason is good. If it's poor, I will either pm you and ask you to add more detail to your reason or (in extreme cases) I will ignore your suggestion completely.

'Guest' suggestions will be ignored with little exception. The only exception will be that if a person isn't able to sign in because they're using a cellphone or any other handheld device. If you're this kind of 'guest' please leave your pen name so I can pm you to ensure it really is you.

To all: If you suggest a girl and do not use that above form. You'll be ignored without exception.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Alright, chapter 2. First off... none of you know how to use a form. Makes me wonder about a lot of things. Now I'm not particularly a fan of 'big' harems but apparently this one has gotten quite big.

A dozen women... ten if I remove the OC's I haven't introduced yet, but I'm not going to.

Permanent Harem list (so far): Shizuka, Karin, 2 OC's (1 from the Nadeshiko village, the other... you'll find out), Ino, Amaru, Femnaruto, Honoka, Konan.

Possible additions: Mei, femHaku

Frankly this would be a problem in a 'normal' story but Naruto has the solution to this problem... and I'm sure you all know what exactly it is, if you don't... go re-watch Naruto, you forgot _a lot_. (Hint: He learns it in episode 1.)

The 'possible additions' are names I am considering adding to the harem list, but until I get to their scenes and such, I don't know if they'll work out. So instead of promising that they'll be in the harem then removing them. (and pissing people off) They'll go in the maybe section.

Since I didn't expect it to go so high for the harem. The limit is 14 women. You can still suggest women to add to the harem, but unless your reasoning is very good. They'll go in the 'possible additions' section and then I will put up a poll on my profile for everyone to pick the four they want the most.

Beta: Ncpfan, Psudocode Samurai

Credits: Psudocode Samurai (For coming up with a great idea for Konan to join the harem)

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Naruto tugged on the collar of his new outfit, he placed the only two things Shizuka didn't throw out that was with him around his neck. One was the necklace he won from Tsunade and the other was a paper rosebud that Konan gave him after he dealt with Pein that he made into a necklace of sorts to keep around. The rosebud was attached to a chain so it kept most its original look and granted being paper meant it wouldn't decay like a normal flower. He grumbled as forgot how _new_ clothing felt since the last time he had new clothes were years ago, _'That reminds me, when was the last time I cleaned those things?'_ he thought curiously wondering back to his destroyed clothes that Shizuka most likely threw out.

"So how do they fit?" asked Shizuka wanting outside the door while he changed into them.

Naruto opened the door to the room and replied, "They feel good. Now let's get the whole 'should I trust you' mission thing over with."

"Touchy," said Shizuka frowning, though she could understand his position a little. She did like him but she didn't _trust_ him much. She'd probably act just like him if their roles were reversed, "Alright, here's a scroll. It contains your mission. An island south of us has been deserted for... well forever but there's a lot of suspicious things going on around it that I want to have investigated, so I'm sending you."

"Okay," said Naruto shrugging, it seemed like a normal and easy mission, "I'll be back when I'm finished with it then."

"Good luck," replied Shizuka before he started leaving. Once he was out of earshot she said, "I think when he comes back I'm going to spar against him." _'Maybe... No, that will have to wait. Knowing the others, we'll be interrupted and he'll be under the threat of castration.'_ she thought unhappily, she'd really have to reign in her own kunoichi.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

Several Hours Later

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Naruto grimaced as he saw the island in question, he had a hard enough time getting the shitty boat he was on, he could swear he heard the kunoichi snickering when they gave him the boat. The boat in question was more likely to fall apart and sink than float.

_'The only one I like there is Shizuka, the rest of them are bitches,'_ thought Naruto angrily as he had to use several Kage Bunshin to ensure the boat actually made it to this island. He had a feeling that the _planks_ of this boat hated his guts considering they were him and he'd hate himself too. "Well I'll know what the life of wooden planks on a boat is when I get their memories back," he said to himself sighing, he'd deal with that when he returned.

He was finished _proving_ himself to other people. Shizuka was the only person giving him a chance and respectful enough to him, he couldn't care less what the others in her village thought of him. _'Maybe after I deal with Akatsuki and Madara I'll rebuild Uzushio... living in Konoha would cause too many problems and I doubt I'd fit it in a village of mostly kunoichi.'_ he thought before shrugging, "No point in thinking about it now. Shouldn't be counting my chickens. One might be a rooster in disguise," he said to himself chuckling finding it a bit amusing.

He spent the next several hours getting to the island and once he arrived he dragged his... poor excuse for a boat onto the beach so it wouldn't be dragged into the ocean and subsequently drowned. It only served to remind him that he was going to give one hell of a severe bitching to the kunoichi who forced him to take it.

Once he dragged the boat onto the beach he activated his Sage Mode, he felt the chakra of several beings. Several small, human chakra signatures and many, many large signatures, "Ah hell it's _this_ island," he said realizing where he was, "Well shit hasn't gone to hell yet so if I move quickly I can kill the fuck-ups here and hopefully send the summoning animals back to their world. I hope these ones can talk... unlike the ones last time." He pulled up the hood and lifted the face mask he had added to the suit, they were both a second thought after he originally gave Shizuka the design for his gear. He wasn't the smartest shuriken in the pouch, but he was quick and figured out that he had to maintain being anonymous out in the field and that came with hiding his whiskers and blaring blond hair... last thing he needed was to be mistaken for the Hokage. That in itself would make things extremely horrible for him.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," he said and created a dozen clones of him which looked to him for orders, which was sort of neat, with his outfit like it was, no one would suspect that it was just one person using shadow clones but an actual squad of people. "Let's make this quick, I have several kunoichi to chew out about that sorry excuse of a boat over there," he said pointing to said boat off to the side, "Three of you will go in from the west, three from the east and the rest of you will... find us a decent boat. These people have to have one to get here."

"Prisoners?" questioned one of his clones as they all wondered if they should take prisoners or not.

Naruto frowned as he thought for a moment, "Kill them if they fight for their lives, but try to keep them alive. At the very least I'd like to tell them why they're going to die," stated Naruto before they all nodded and left, starting their mission. "There was a red haired girl here too from what I remember. She had chains like Kaa-chan... I'll figure this all out later." he muttered deciding not to think too much, he had to get there with his clones and stop that monstrous thing from being created after all. He jumped onto a tree and started heading to where he sort of remembered the place was at.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Hurry!" shouted one of the researchers as a grotesque creature spawned from the pit in the middle of the massive room, "Honoka, the seal!" he shouted before it grabbed him and another man and... swallowed them in some way. Naruto really wasn't sure if it could even be called 'swallowing'

"What an ugly life form," he muttered under his breath and he heard twin explosions to the inner doors as his clones finally caught up, though to be fair they were hunting down everyone in the place.

Naruto looked at the girl on a seal array and watched as the seal turned into chains and covered the creature, but they didn't do much beyond piss it off, _'Really? These so-called researchers think she can hold back a summoning animal... or several in the case of this freak. Only someone with massive chakra reservoirs like me can even hope to hold this thing in place for more than a couple seconds with seals or a jutsu.'_ he thought feeling disgusted at these people for using the girl in such a dangerous situation.

"I can't... I can't suppress it," said the girl looking at the beast as was Naruto and seeing the seal chains snapping off and breaking.

Naruto watched as his clones surrounded the creature and used a restraining jutsu he knew and contained the creature, it would last until they started popping from their chakra being used up which gave him a few minutes. He came out of the shadows and stood next to the girl, _'She doesn't even have shinobi training... most shinobi would have moved out of the way and started planning their next attack, she would have been killed if I wasn't here. I'll make these assholes pay for endangering her and abusing summoning animals!'_ he thought getting angry at the worthless specks that were his fellow humans in the room, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," he growled as several dozen more clones popped into existence, "It hasn't eaten a lot of things so we can still kill it without shoving it in lava," he ordered focusing on the creature for the moment. "Five of you, hunt down and capture these bastards. Two of you, protect her. The rest of you, with me. We're dealing with ugly."

He chuckled as he and many of his clones started with the one jutsu that he knew would rip this thing to pieces, it did before when it was mature in his dimension. Naruto nodded to the clones restraining the creature and they poofed out of existence causing the creature to be able to move unrestrained and already started swatting and grabbing his clones... only for them to poof and piss it off further. It would have been amusing if he wasn't underground and it didn't have the ability to bury them all with it.

"Futon: Rasen Shuriken!" he shouted as he and a few other groups fired the most awesome jutsu he knew of and he made it. He loved using it too, but that was beside the point.

Naruto watched as several rasen shuriken's plowed through the beast... and several of his clones ripping it apart in various places, "That hurt..." he muttered receiving the backlash from his clones and absently rubbing his chest where his clones had been hit. From what he could see, it was dead, but it was better to make sure, especially in this case. "Use a katon jutsu. Nothing but ash survives," he ordered to his clones, being the squadmate of a Uchiha wasn't such a horrible thing. You eventually learn Katon jutsu just from seeing your squadmate do it so often, granted it was a pain in the ass to actually get fire to come out when using the jutsu, but he got it to work... sadly several of his sensei's books fell victim to his training when he was learning it.

"A-ano... who are you?" questioned a voice, he turned around and figured it was the girl given she was the only one not being manhandled by his clones and restrained, "And thank you, we would have died if you didn't come. Though..." she paused as she looked around seeing his clones restraining the researchers and burning the creature, "I'm not sure if that's a good thing in the end."

"Experiments using summoning animals... I can't forgive that," said Naruto unhappily, "The summoning animals I came across... I don't know if you had a hand in it, but you and all these people ripped them from their homes, treated them like animals... Several of them even reverted to their animal ways because of being treated like such. It's disgusting." he growled as more of his clones came into the large room, followed shortly by other researchers they gathered up and two of the summoning animals he freed. A snake and a spider. Good for him that the most creepy of summons remain behind, just for him.

"**Uzumaki,"**stated a large white snake, at least as tall as him. Naruto still felt awkward around this snake and the others. They weren't a danger to him but with his past experiences... well, they sort of spoke for themselves in that he didn't have any good experiences with reptiles. The redhead looked shocked that the snake could speak, **"Thank you for saving us. We... we were caught unaware and didn't even know what was happening. We were summoned from our clans, our families and thrown into cages and we couldn't reverse summon ourselves. I have to suspect a seal master ensured we would be forced to stay... How dare a human imprison us all for their own gain!"**shouted the snake angrily causing the place to shake.

"**Quiet down moron, we're underground and I have no intention of being squashed by rubble," **stated a spider causing the girl's jaw to gape more widely. The spider looked at him before continuing, **"You aren't our summoner, Uzumaki... but we do owe you a debt for freeing us before... whatever these wretches could do to us."**The spider paused for a moment and Naruto shivered as he felt something crawl onto his head, **"That little one is your familiar. She doesn't have a name, feel free to give her one. The Onigumo clan will aid you whenever you call upon us."**When it finished speaking it nodded to him before returning home.

"**Can I eat them?"**asked the snake eying the researchers who possibly just shit their pants right then.

Naruto looked over at them then the snake, "It involves no clean-up for me and they deserve far worse."

"No don't!" shouted the girl rushing forward but stopped by his clones who grabbed a hold of her, "Please don't kill them! We didn't do anything wrong! Summons are supposed to be used for ninja to-" She never finished her sentence as Naruto slapped roughly across her face.

"This big white snake is part of the Orochi clan of snakes. Their contract as far as I know is held by Orochimaru of the sannin. The spider on my head is part of the Onigumo clan that you just met. Toads are contracted by Namikaze Minato and Jiraiya of the sannin. Slugs are contracted to Tsunade of the sannin," stated Naruto seriously as he focused his anger on the girl, "They not tools to be used and thrown away. They are _not_used for experiments for whatever reason you and your sick little friends can think of!" He grabbed her by the front of her kimono-like shirt before continuing, "Those researchers would have gladly left you to die here! They only wanted you because you know how to seal the summoning animals and imprison them as well as restrain them when they fight for their own lives."

"So you're going to let humans, my friends die for some giant intelligent animals? Is that how you're going to justify it?" said the girl angrily as she held her cheek from him slapping her. Her eyes were swelling up with tears as well.

Naruto dropped her on her ass and stated, "I justify nothing. There's no moral high ground here. You and those bastards have probably killed dozens if not hundreds of summoning animals. Wiped out entire clans! We're all covered in blood, girl. There may be more blood on my hands than yours, but in the end... we're both killers." He turned around and watched as the snake devoured the researchers and he ignored the girl's cries behind him. Even if the snake didn't devour them, he'd kill them himself. It was easier in the long run to let the snake eat them since he wouldn't have to destroy their body's to get rid of all evidence of what happened in this place. He was going to ensure that _nothing_ like this again happened.

"**You have my thanks, Uzumaki,"** stated the snake before poofing back into his realm.

"Creepy," muttered Naruto shivering, he would probably never get used to snakes. He looked back at the girl who glared at him. "Knock it off," he said sighing, "Those men got what they deserved. They not only imprisoned god knows how many summoning animals, but they experimented, fused and killed them. Yeah, they're giant animals, but if they _really_ decided to, they could wipe out mankind if we pissed them off or simply refuse to work with any human ever again. So if a Biju appeared, we couldn't summon one of them for help against it. They are to be treated respectfully, not like some test subject you can poke and prod then not expect to get your arm ripped off."

"They didn't have to die," growled the girl angrily, though sounding sad as well.

Naruto shrugged and replied, "If the snake didn't eat and kill them. I would have slit their throats and burned their corpses. So yes, they did have to die. They couldn't be allowed to live with what they did. If I let them go, they would have gone somewhere else and started this entire thing over again and more summoning animals would be in danger. As a Sage, the summoning animals are my responsibility in some way."

"That snake kept calling you Uzumaki, but that's impossible. They were wiped out years ago," said the redhead a lot more calm than she was during the snake's snack time.

Naruto rolled his eyes, why was it so hard to believe he was part of the Uzumaki clan, "No shit," he said annoyed, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Currently a ninja employed by the village of Nadeshiko. Sage of the Toad Clan, apparently now a friend of the Onigumo clan, Jinchuuriki of the Kyubi no Kitsune... or as I know it, furball. What's your name?"

"Honoka," replied the girl unhappily, "Uzumaki Honoka. So what happens to me? If you're going to kill me, just hurry up and do it."

Naruto dismissed most of his clones, the few he let remain he had get busy destroying any document they could find, "No," he said surprising her, "They might have acted like your friends, Honoka-san, but the fact remains you're only here because of your sealing abilities. If you remember back when that thing was getting free. The researchers didn't tell you to get out and escape. They _ordered_ you to restrain that monster. So long as you were useful, you stayed. They had no other reason to let a... I'm not sure of your age, but let's go with girl. They had no reason to let a girl, like you with no ability as a shinobi, barely enough chakra to hold back a genin's sneeze to do much. To them, your sealing skills to imprison the summons and restrain them when they were already weakened was what let you stay here." He paused for a few minutes before he added, "They could have truly been your friends, Honoka-san, I can't speak for them but you can't be sure that they'd say the truth if I let them talk before killing them."

"...Then... then how do you know they were using me?! They took me in when my parents were killed by nukenin," stated Honoka seriously, wanting to piss him off enough to kill her.

"Because... I've been in the same position as you," said Naruto knowing he was being baited by her. He looked over at the eastern entrance as one of his clones walked in carrying a red haired girl around Honoka's age into the room.

Once the clone was close enough he could see green glowing scales on the girl's cheeks, only a few of them and they blended into her cheeks almost seamlessly. He could see some on her hands and feet as well, it was a bit strange, but since she wasn't awake he couldn't ask why, but he could fathom a decent idea.

"Do you know her?" asked Naruto looking at Honoka, who shook her head. He scowled as he was hit with a bunch of papers clipped together, "I hate my clones," he said annoyed as he bent down and picked up what he was hit with while he heard Honoka snickering at him.

_'Let's see what is this,'_ thought Naruto as he started sorting through what his clone thought was important for him to look at. He flipped through several pages with each page irritating him further and making him want to kill something. Naruto stopped reading and dropped the papers on the ground next to Honoka, "Read it," he ordered angrily as he wanted nothing more to do than bash someone's head in.

Honoka picked up the papers and started reading them while Naruto looked at the girl with the scales, "Fused with a clan of komodo dragons, that explains the scales... and those bastards are lucky they're dead right now. Human experimentation with summoning animals. Apparently, according to what's in those papers, she's the only living _subject_. They didn't even put down her name," he growled angrily before looking at all of the clones still around. Everything looked pretty much destroyed, "We're leaving. This place is making me sick."

"N-no, they never fused people with the animals. They'd never do that," said Honoka having read the papers. She looked at him, "Y-you must have planted them and then made it look like they were always here!"

Naruto sweatdropped and asked, "How do you explain her, then? A figment of our imagination... because if she is than I might spend more of my time imagining cute women." he folded his arms waiting for her answer.

"I... you must have brought her with you to screw with me!" shouted Honoka angrily, now going to believe that her closest friends would do such a thing to people.

Naruto shrugged and said, "Look, I don't care. I'm done arguing. You'll have quite a bit of time to get over it on the boat ride back to Nadeshiko." He dismissed all of his clones except the one holding the girl and through their memories discovered these people _did_ have a ship bigger and in far better condition than he had. Oh, he couldn't wait to shove it in those kunoichi's faces when he returned with this ship and the best thing about it... it was _his_ boat now and he wasn't going to give it to them unless it was over his cold dead body.

"Now let's go," he said before his clone started heading to where the ship was and he walked alongside Honoka as they followed the clone silently.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Now _this_ is a boat," said Naruto ecstatically as he got on it.

"It's called a ship. Can you at least get it right," muttered Honoka under her breath glaring at him.

Naruto shrugged and replied, "Ship or boat. Same thing, they float on the water and that's all I care about. Now if I remember correctly, I can get this thing to work... but then again I need a crew." He sighed before forming his most familiar hand sign, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A bunch of his clones appeared on the desk and immediately got to work, knowing what they should start doing from his own thoughts before he made them.

"Boss... the girl's awake now," said the clone holding the redhead girl with the scales on her skin. The clone put her down so she could stand on her own two feet then poofed out of existence.

Naruto looked at the girl and with her eyes now open, he could see that they were similar to that of a lizard's or more likely a Komodo Dragon's eyes and frowned, he wondered how much of her had been changed by the fusion.

"So... are you alright?" asked Naruto curiously, he wanted to make sure she wasn't hurt anywhere he couldn't see or if the fusion between the summons and her injured her internally.

"We're fine," answered the girl calmly as she looked at him.

Naruto raised an eyebrow out of curiosity, "We? Odd question, but could you explain the uh... 'We' or do you mean we as in the royal 'we'?"

"Our clan is quite persistent, human," said the girl seriously as her eyes narrowed, "Don't bother worrying about Makiko, she will be fine. We will be absorbed fully within a matter of days," she added before looking around, "We smell blood and fire... So you rescued Makiko from the betrayer's underlings. Fitting."

"**It's going to eat me,"** squeaked the spider still on his head right before it scurrying under his hood and hid at his neck where no one could see it since his hood was still up.

Makiko smiled in an amused expression and said, "We doubt Makiko would enjoy eating a spider. If we had our original bodies, we would reconsider you as a snack, little one."

"Enough freaking the spider out," said Naruto slightly annoyed, "Explain... what you are, if you don't mind," he added as his clones would do everything to get the ship moving.

Makiko shrugged and stated, "You will know our history first. We will _not_ be forgotten. We had grown alienated from the celestial plains, our home. Conflict was our master, crushing us in its spiteful grip. In ancient times, our only language was the cry of battle but at last we realized the futility of eternal struggle against the Toads of Myoboku," she paused as the ship started moving then looked at to the ocean, "Our frustration could only cease by humbly submitting to their authority, for this is the way of the world."

_'Either the Toads aren't as good as they are in my dimension or I've been taking _a lot _of shit at face value... ugh, I feel like an idiot,'_ thought Naruto frowning, he liked the toads, but he wasn't so sure if he did in _this_ dimension at the very least and it wasn't like he could return to his to ask.

"The rage of the Toads was thus assuaged and for some time we heard the comforting hum of the celestial plains..." continued Makiko softly being she stopped and frowned, "but the truce was short lived. The murmuring of the restless toads soon reached a screeching pitch. A new age of discord was once again upon us. The enemy drew silently near." Naruto jumped a little when she hit the railing of the ship and dented it, "We were betrayed," she growled quietly, "How could it be? How could we not have seen it? We were warring with shadows and to our uncomprehending minds, these eternal conflicts were without purpose or reason and again, we fought the toads and for a time the tide of battle waxed and waned, but our suffering was in vain. Even in victory, our ruthless overlords were shrouded in infinite darkness." She turned back toward him and her hand rested above her heart, "Out of the ashes that had once been our clan, our sole source of hope remained blessedly intact. Makiko, this human survived the burden of us in her entirety."

"Though the question persists... how were you summoned?" questioned Naruto confused as their clan would have to have a summoner to do it.

"You don't pay attention to you?" asked Honoka looking at him like he was an idiot, and in his defense... he probably was. "They had a truce with another clan. That clan's summoner can summon those they have a truce with, if the truce is signed with the condition of them being summoned by the other's summoner. A white haired man came around every few months and summoned dozens of summoning animals."

"She speaks the truth. Such a condition was within our truce with the toads. We did not have a summoner, we did not speak to humans," said Makiko calmly.

"Jiraiya," growled Naruto angrily, he was _killing_ this dimension's Jiraiya, fuck how many people he pissed off while doing it. The old pervert was getting a slow and painful death.

Makiko cleared her throat getting his attention then said, "Before we recede, we think it's prudent to let you know of the... changes to Makiko." Naruto nodded as that would be nice to know, "Scales, only visible mark of our clan and her fusing together. She has hardened skin as well, it will make projectiles hard to injure her and her saliva is... poisonous to others. That is all we have noticed."

"I see... thank you for explaining everything," said Naruto politely, "You two... don't kill each other. I'm going to see what my clones are up to," he added before leaving the two to their own devices. He also had to deal with his own thoughts on the matter. He had to rethink his..._ position_ regarding this dimension's Konoha as it was not looking very good so far and he had half the mind to outright ignore the village from the knowledge he got from the... stuck clan of lizards in Makiko and given their position, he had doubts they would lie.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

A/N: Alright... Well here's this chapter. My little guinea pig's were quite helpful in helping me figure out several things as well. Names of those guinea pigs are up top.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: All I have for the A/N is that every mission Naruto goes on will not always be an entire chapter. Sometime it may take two or three chapters, this is mostly because I don't want to be mobbed by all of you saying the 'story' is going too fast... and... well I have another reason but no idea how to put it in words.

Also... I apparently can't please everyone... so eh.

Short note: I would have updated this a couple days ago, but I was busy with a new/old game I found.

Guinea Pigs: They all died during the last testing phase... sadly, two guinea pigs were harmed in the making of this story.

Beta: Psudocode Samurai

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Naruto stood across from both Honoka and Makiko, the latter of which was still under the complete control of the clan of Komodo Dragons. From what they explained, their entire consciousness is stronger than her singular one, so she was essentially in the passenger seat until they faded entirely into her, but she could see, hear and feel everything, she just couldn't speak, but the lizards spoke for her a lot of the time.

Honoka charged at him with kunai in hand and he simply vanished from sight and reappeared flipping her over onto the desk than kicking her into the wall of the captain's quarters and knocking the breath out of her.

Naruto disappeared from sight again and this time went after Makiko only to receive an elbow to the groin, a swift punch to his throat then she bit him though let go before he toppled over in pain and his legs no longer responding.

"We are known for our patience, Naruto," stated Makiko with a triumphant smirk gracing her face, "And we have centuries of experience in combat. Our advice: Wait until we fade and then try training Makiko. It would be to the best benefit to you and her." She paused for a moment as her eyes looked to the side, then back at him, "She apologizes for our actions in injuring you... there."

It took a few minutes for Naruto to be able to talk, let alone see straight and finally answered, "I-it's okay... I should... have considered the... painful consequences... but really don't aim for anything below the waist during training. If you're going to kill someone, go for it, but not against your partner in a spar."

"We'll take that under advisement," said Makiko finding the entire situation to be amusing as was Honoka despite being kicked across the deck into a wall.

Naruto stood up uncomfortably and saw Nadeshiko's island in view, "Great..." he muttered unhappily, "From a destroyed groin to being under the threat of castration all day long... today's perfect. To hell if they think I'll give them this ship though."

Nothing happened as his clones got the ship to the docks and the three of them could get off it. Once that happened most of his clones dispelled but he made a few remain to keep the kunoichi off it and to explore the ship for anything that could be in it as well as possibly add the symbol he created onto the side of it... provided he could find the materials and paint to do it.

"We're going to go find Shizuka next so I can turn in my mission, probably get another one and find you two a place to stay," said Naruto as they stepped off the ramp from the ship to the docks. They stopped as their path was blocked by two Kunoichi, "What?" asked Naruto annoyed, he'd give anything to keep people from bothering him right now.

"You aren't allowed in the village, _male_," stated one of the kunoichi smugly while the other one smirked.

Naruto sighed and said, "You have three seconds to move or I'm going to kill you. I've had a horrible day and I'm not in the mood to deal with this crap anymore. Now move or die. Fuck the consequences."

_'Note to self: Do not irritate Naruto,'_ thought Makiko watching silently, her lizard guests agreeing with her firmly.

"Try it and you'll have our entire village to deal with," said the woman taking a stance only for the blond in front of her to vanish from sight and the next thing she knew was darkness.

Naruto stared down at the two kunoichi's lying unconscious and frowned, "They're lucky I don't want to piss Shizuka off or deal with a village of vengeful kunoichi," he grumbled under his breath before looking at Makiko and Honoka, "Do you two want to babysit or come along?" he asked with his eyes still narrowed expecting more headaches to pop up. He wasn't sure if he wanted to set his base here anymore. Though at the very least he'd do enough missions to pay for the gear Shizuka got him then decide from there.

"We'll come," said Makiko stepping on the kunoichi's and walking past him and Honoka following behind her, but stepping around the two unconscious women.

Naruto turned around and started his way into the village and after a few dozen feet or so, a _squad_ of kunoichi blocked their path. _'What the hell?!'_ he thought pissed off. Hell he had _less_ trouble getting and turning in a mission in Konoha and everyone hated his guts there. _'Fuck this, I'm not talking. I'm going to beat the hell out of anyone who gets in my way until I get to Shizuka.'_ he added mentally before charging the squad, he elbowed one in the chest, breaking at least two of her ribs. He grabbed one's arm and swung her into another kunoichi as well as pulling her arm out of its socket. The woman he hit with the second kunoichi he kicked her legs out from under her and ensured her head hit the ground and surprisingly it knocked her unconscious which he didn't really expect, but he wasn't about to question it. The last kunoichi stabbed him in the right shoulder which didn't bother him any oddly enough and he punched her in the stomach and as she bent over in pain he hit the back of her neck.

Naruto looked at the two girl's behind him watching, "So, you two want to piss me off in the future?" he asked curiously as he pulled the knife in his shoulder out and threw it at a tree. The two shook their heads slowly at him and he chuckled.

"You're a mean person," stated a new voice attracting Naruto's attention and he looked in its direction to see Shizuka standing on a tree branch, "Then again I did make it known you were welcome in the village. You didn't kill anyone so I'll ignore it. Now, let's go to my office so we can talk about your mission," she added seriously before using shunshin to go back to her office, she'd send another squad to pick up the kunoichi Naruto injured. She wasn't angry at him for injuring them, she was angry at _them_ for disobeying her orders.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Naruto, Honoka and Makiko walked into Shizuka's office, the few kunoichi standing guard in and around the building gave him dirty looks much to his annoyance, but they didn't stop him. "You know most people would hesitate before attacking friendly shinobi... well almost friendly in case it might be seen as an attack," said Shizuka with an amused smile as she watched them enter, "How can I be so sure to trust you now that you've injured my kunoichi?" she asked curiously wondering his answer to the question. She wasn't too bothered by it, if anything she was doing this simply to mess with him.

Naruto stared at her and answered, "In the field, you hesitate, you or someone you care about will die. Next time, I won't injure them. I'll kill them. Now as for the mission. Research and experimentation on Summoning animals as well as humans. I ended it," He pointed to Honoka and Makiko, "The one with scales is Makiko, she... was an experiment. The one with the ever cute angry-looking expression is Honoka. I'll be taking them both under my wing, so you don't need to worry about them."

"I see," said Shizuka nodding, "Now about the boat you took from us. That didn't look like the same one."

Naruto frowned and narrowed his eyes at her, "It's mine. I stole it fair and square. That _boat_ your kunoichi gave me could barely float on water, let alone anything else. Don't take this the wrong way, Shizuka but you won't get the ship and I'll kill anyone trying to take it."

"I'll be sure to pass that on," said Shizuka uncomfortably seeing the blond was not in a good mood, not that she blamed him. She sighed as she decided to stop messing with the blond before she said the wrong thing and pissed him off. "Before anything else, I need to ask you for a favor," she said a little ashamed to be asking for a favor.

"Which is?" questioned Naruto wondering what kind of hell he'd most likely be subjected to.

Shizuka might have giggled if she knew her favor wouldn't annoy him, "I... I need help..." she whispered quietly, embarrassed that she was asking for help, "While I am the leader of Nadeshiko, I can't _make_ the others follow my orders. Which means I would like you to help me."

"...You wish to start a civil war?" questioned Makiko curiously as she tilted her head and everyone looked at her, "Is that not what she has suggested?" she asked wondering if she understood it wrong.

Naruto shook his head and said, "_How_ can I help you?" He didn't like the _sound_ of helping her, but at least she was considering her current predicament of her subordinates.

"I need help... you seem to know what you're doing, like you've been a leader before," said Shizuka calmly, "I don't want any fighting, if you could help get them to listen to me so I can start changing how the village acts, I'd really appreciate it."

Naruto nodded as he did agree with her, she did need help. Even he'd have a bit of a problem against the entire village especially since he didn't _want_ to kill anyone here which would be the same reason Shizuka would have problems. Though he _might_ lose that feeling towards Nadeshiko if things continued like they were.

"Alright I'll help, but don't expect a miracle," said Naruto knowing that this was going to come back and bite him in the ass, "Before we actually get to... solving your problem. Honoka and Makiko need somewhere to sleep."

"We can sleep on the ship, you know," said Makiko seriously, the myriad of voices most likely bothering Shizuka some, "We're uncomfortable around people, especially ones that seem to demand and attack first then question later and someone will have to keep Honoka-san company. She wasn't... _tested_ on like I was, so the likelihood of Shizuka-san allowing her into the village is very low."

"She has a point, Naruto," said Shizuka calmly, "They may be your relatives, but _I_ don't know them... or trust them. Makiko I could probably get away with allowing her to stay in the village since she was a prisoner and human experiment, but the other girl... from what I gathered from both of your words, she is part of the group that you destroyed. I can't simply let her in Nadeshiko, even if you vouch for her."

"I suspect you want an official report?" questioned Naruto dreading having to write out reports, the one thing he hated about being a ninja... _reports_.

Shizuka giggled amused and replied, "You're not part of my village Naruto, you don't need to. A verbal report will work just fine. Just fill in the gaps of what you've already told me. Now if you don't mind. Create a clone and have it escort them back to the ship you have. I would ask one of my own to do that, but I don't think that would go over nicely until we start working things out with them."

"Fine," muttered Naruto as he formed the usual hand sign, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." A clone of himself poofed into existence, "Take them to the ship and... explore I guess," he ordered the clone not seeing much else to let it do.

Within a couple minutes his clone and the two girls left the office, "Alright, what's your plan so far to being a leader your kunoichi and possibly ninja will listen to," said Naruto wanting to know if she had a plan, "I'll simply write out my report, it wasn't a long mission anyway," he added deciding to deal with the more important problem and simply write out the report, even if he didn't like it.

"Uh... I didn't give it _that_ much thought," said Shizuka laughing nervously, "I didn't think you'd agree to help me to be honest, so I kind of just planned to mope for a few hours when you said no."

Naruto laughed a little and replied, "I thought about saying no, but I still have to repay you for the clothes and gear. So I guess I'll explain what I think will work and you decide if you want to use my suggestion or even parts of them."

Shizuka nodded, "That's reasonable, but nothing extreme," she said giving him a suspicious look.

"That hurts," replied Naruto feigning like he had been hit with something painful, "Extreme or not, it's your choice with the decisions. So first and foremost, you are the leader of this village, correct?" he asked and Shizuka nodded, "Then there is the first change you need to make. Obey or death." Her eyes widened but he continued before she could speak, "In all of the shinobi villages, disobeying the Kage is treason and treason means execution. Some ninja become missing ninja because they don't agree with their leader on one thing or another... others out of greed. So long as the orders you give are not extreme or very, very stupid, your kunoichi and ninja should be fine with this additional law. I'm surprised Nadeshiko doesn't have this law..."

"And if they aren't?" asked Shizuka knowing that the law would probably have people against it even if they weren't subject to the law.

"Then that means they're the ones who are doing things behind your back that endanger you and this village," answered Naruto seriously wondering just how many kunoichi would be against the law, there shouldn't be much resistance to it, but he'd seen weirder things, "It isn't a huge life-changing law to add, but it's the first law to enforce your orders on your subordinates. If diplomat's from other countries or hidden villages come here to talk with you, it will cause a war if your kunoichi treat them like garbage or attack them like they enjoy doing to me. Wars can be started over far less than an insulting word. Diplomats like to be treated with respect, something your kunoichi don't seem to give without good reason."

"Good point... they aren't welcoming to outsiders," said Shizuka agreeing with him, "Anything else you have in mind?"

Naruto shrugged and replied, "I do, but it's more of a question than a suggestion."

"Feel free to ask me anything," said Shizuka wondering what he was thinking about.

"Alright... you said that the tradition for the kunoichi in Nadeshiko is to fight and marry men who can beat them. How do I put this... what happens to them afterward?" he asked curiously, "I haven't seen a ninja since I woke up here. Do you marry them, get pregnant and then kill them?" he added a little confused on the lack of men he saw around the village, he didn't remember seeing any in his own dimension either now that he thought of it.

Shizuka laughed when she heard his question and it took her a few minutes to stop but once she did she answered, "No, hahaha, no we don't _kill_ the men we marry. They're more than welcome to join as ninja as well, but some while married to women here live in different villages, some small ninja villages others in the great ninja villages. A few men that are married live here in the village but like to... do the housework, I guess. I never really go around and ask them, it's a little odd."

"Or your kunoichi treat them like crap so instead of being put down and insulted at every chance, they forfeit their ninja career and stay home to take care of their children and the house," stated Naruto pointing the one thing she was missing, "I've been called outsider and _male_ by your kunoichi when you aren't around. I think it's safe to say that your kunoichi look down on men as well as with outsiders. Which is kind of odd considering you fight men to marry... but back on topic, how do you usually give out new laws or whatever?"

"Usually gathering everyone in the village square and telling them, and I don't think the women here mistreat the men. Sure, they don't seem to like you, but they don't know you," said Shizuka sending him a brief glare.

"That could be it, yes, but how about this. When we go to explain the 'treason' law, how about you talk to some of the men without their wife or other women around to see things from their perspective, and yes, I did say without their wife and other women because chances are, he'll be getting castrated when he goes home if he says something he isn't supposed to," stated Naruto not wanting to get any of the men in the village into a deeper hole than they might already be in, "And you can feel free to scold me if I'm wrong on the entire thing."

"You realize you've condemned yourself seeing as I think you're wrong," replied Shizuka smirking, but frowned as he started to chuckle.

Naruto stuck out his tongue a little and said, "You have to _prove_ I'm wrong before anything else, Shizuka. Seeing as you've considered the instating the law is okay, I'll leave the details to you. I'm going to search through the ship and get the other two settled somewhere in it."

Shizuka nodded as they stood up, "When I get everything situated to do it, I'll... yes, I'll come and get you. I don't want you injuring any more kunoichi, even if they end up asking for it," she said as Naruto opened the door to her office and he walked out.

"I might be sleeping, so feel free to wake me up if I am," replied Naruto not bothered by her words, it was sounding more like she was trying to convince herself than anything else, "And you don't need to continue bringing up the actions of your shinobi. I'm sure there are some that don't want my head removed from my shoulders, I just haven't met them. So this isn't awkward later on, I'll try to stop mentioning the problems I have with your kunoichi and you stop trying to apologize or make excuses for them, agreed?"

"Alright," said Shizuka nodding, "I'll see you later," she added before closing her office door and Naruto started on his way back to the ship.

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A/N: This chapter was a little... odd. Wasn't particularly sure how to handle the conversation and it probably shows too. It looks screwed up to me, personally, but I don't know, it might look okay to you all.

In either case, I think I'll redo this chapter at a later date.

Time for a bit of shameless advertising: Please go and check out Shards of the Moon. Should be posted within a couple minutes after this.


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